We hope you all survived the snow and ice January has brought us! Sorry I haven't posted since the Ronald McDonald House Event. The snow and ice have put me a little behind to, not to mention the holidays! Some of December and January will be mixed in together for the next couple of posts until I can get caught up so bear with me. For this post I am posting about what we did today taking advantage of the snow and ice. Here are a few pictures of the students doing some snow painting. I am also including some pictures of the children doing some ice painting last week before the snow days (who knew we would have the real thing happening?). Enjoy! Come back often. I have a lot of catching up to do so I will be adding a lot of posts over the next few weeks.
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| In this picture dried tempra paint was put on paper and the children used frozen water to "paint" their pictures! |
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| The children learn how to blend colors and practice their pincer grip for writing. |
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| This is a great snowy day activity to do at home. Just freeze some ice cubes, add water color or regular paint (may I recommend the washable kind!) and let the children go crazy. You may even want to join in the fun. |
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| We had some water color paint left over from spray painting snow last week and wondered what we could do with it. We brought some of the snow in from outside and placed it into the sensory table. We placed large and small paint brushes in the table with the water color paint and waited to see what the children would create. |
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| A blue snowman! |
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| The children realized that this snow was different from the snow we played with last week. This snow was "heavier" and "stuck together" better. Some made snowballs. Some of the students went and got their gloves and mittens out of their cubbies because their hands got cold but they didn't want to stop playing. What great problem solvers! |
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| Working together. Playing collaboratively meaning to play interactively, not just side-by-side. These two students are talking back and forth, working together to create a picture together, discussing what colors to use, how to take turns and who should paint where. They were using lots of social and descriptive language. |
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| Again, next time their is a snow day, fill up the bath tub or sink with snow, color some water with food coloring (watch out though, it will stain) or water down some paint, get out some paint brushes and let your child(ren) paint a masterpiece. Better yet, paint with them. Build sculptures inside or outside and paint them. Don't forget to take a picture and send it into school with them so they can tell us all about it. Believe it or not, this is where the real learning takes place. It is not just play. Size, shape, colors, number, language, sharing, taking turns, working together, problem solving and just plain having fun and making memories all are vital to your child's long term development. |
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| In the afternoon class one of the other teachers gave them some ice cycles to examine. Even though our lesson plans didn't have ice cycles in them the kids taught us a thing or two! They put them in the sensory table and started painting them with the water color paint. They turned into beautiful works of 3-D art! |
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| One thing we have learned as teachers, always listen to the children. They see the world in ways that we have forgotten as adults. They saw the ice cycles as something different than just plain old frozen water dripping off the building. They saw them as dazzling, magical and amazing objects to be painted, explored and manipulated into something new and even more beautiful than they were before. I think that is why we love our jobs so much, we get to see the world fresh and new each day again, and not the way we are taught to see it as adults. See the snow and ice as the children do. Glittering. Soft. Fun. Cold. Yummy. Not as we are taught to see it as adults. Inconvenient. Annoying. Difficult. Sometimes just changing your perspective can bring about joy in places you forgot it existed.. |
So, until next time, try to find a little fun in the snow. It will be gone soon and before you know it the days will be long again and we will be in shorts and it will be 100 degrees outside and we will be wishing we would have enjoyed the snow while it was here. With that said, drive safely.
